Training Store



Training Store has its sights set on being the biggest training mall in the world. An online venture launched in July 1997, the fledgling company is well on its way. It sprinted into existence on the World Wide Web after a scant two months of development effort with Microsoft Certified Solution Provider Magenic Technologies International. The Training Store relies on the Microsoft commerce solutions, featuring Microsoft® Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition, to ensure that its electronic storefront is stable, flexible, scalable, and secure.

The way Training Store president John Dolejsi sees it, there's no market more suitable for promoting through the Internet than training. "There are tens of thousands of training companies out there—some 20,000 in the United States alone—serving many subject matter niches. The most common way to find out about a company or product is to get a referral from someone who knows someone. It's a real challenge for medium and small training companies to reach their markets," he says.

Dolejsi saw a way around this problem by using the World Wide Web. With only two months of development effort by Microsoft Solution Provider Magenic Technologies International of Minneapolis, Training Store () sprang into existence. It aims to be the of the training world, providing access to tens of thousands of training products from thousands of vendors. Says Magenic Technologies International () cofounder Greg Frankenfield, "A company like Training Store could not afford to put up a business like this without Microsoft technology. It has let them build a very cost-effective store to get investors and training organizations excited and interested in their offerings. The Microsoft BackOffice® tools provided them with a very quick, economical way to get their business up and running.”

A Working Site from Day One

After four months of planning and site design work, Training Store wanted to get to market in a two-month time frame. "In the fast-moving e-commerce world, speed is everything. You can't take six months to get online, or someone else will beat you to it," explains Dolejsi.

Training Store sought out Magenic Technologies International, a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider that not only specializes in Microsoft products but also has extensive experience with Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition, Microsoft SQL Server™, and Web development. But the two-month timetable was intimidating. "Without Site Server and other Microsoft commerce tools, we wouldn't have been able to even approach a project like this in less than three to six months. We did it in six weeks," says Magenic's Frankenfield. Dolejsi adds that it's unheard of to get an electronic business up and running in six weeks flat. "Without Microsoft technology, it would have taken us a year."

It was easy to set up the infrastructure for the Web site using the integrated components of the BackOffice Suite. Then, by adding the Commerce Server component of Microsoft Site Server, Magenic had a skeletal working site on day one. "You can immediately see where the problems are in a way that a design on a piece of paper just can't show you," Frankenfield explains. "Iterative development around a basic design lets you have a real site in front of you. It lets the client see something from the beginning rather than making them wait until you've invested a lot of time in possibly a wrong direction."

A Single-Box Bang

Training Store is getting the most bang for its buck by licensing the BackOffice Server Suite, a single-box combo that includes the Windows NT® Server operating system, with Internet Information Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Systems Management Server, SNA Server, and Proxy Server. For a single server license, Training Store gets unlimited use of all six server products on a single-server machine

"The BackOffice Suite solution is not only convenient, but it also saves us money on software acquisition and administrative costs. We can focus on our business application instead of counting licenses!" says Dolejsi.

Common tools and shared services across applications reduced training and integration costs and got Training Store up and running quickly. Training Store also saw tremendous market momentum behind Windows NT. "We wanted very much to leverage the business and technical capabilities embodied in the Microsoft tools," Dolejsi says. "Training is not a field at the leading edge of Internet development. By choosing Microsoft, we piggyback on products that other companies in other industries have tested and endorsed."

A Complete Solution, Right Out of the Box

Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition and SQL Server are at the heart of Training Store's business. This scalable, relational database management system houses the company's growing roster of training companies, products, customers, and other business-critical data. Dolejsi says SQL Server has been very easy to work with—stable, and solid, which is important when you're trying to get a business up and running. Query performance, he adds, has been great. Fast query response is critical in e-business, where a single bad experience can spell permanent loss of a customer.

Microsoft Commerce Server, a feature of Microsoft Site Server, contains a wealth of Active Server Page scripts that handle everything along the buying pipeline, from order placement to processing. Magenic began the project by using wizards to produce a working prototype that became the basis of the site. Microsoft Commerce Server gave Training Store instant store management capabilities that they didn't have to develop—saving time and money.

Adding More Pull

Training Store is open for business. "We've stocked the shelves with over 5,000 premier training courses and products, and are now beginning to actively marketing to the buyers of training in companies and to individuals,” Dolejsi says.

Training Store will ultimately have training company showrooms where companies can demonstrate and sell their wares, give online presentations, hold discussion groups, and complete course evaluations. It will provide a forum for buyers and sellers to come together, ask questions, discuss needs and actually purchase products. The Training Store will also be using Site Server’s Personalization tools to make its site more addictive, giving visitors reason to come back repeatedly and helping them easily find what they are most interested in.

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For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada information Centre at (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to:



© 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, BackOffice, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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"Without Site Server and other Microsoft commerce tools, we wouldn't have been able to even approach a project like this in less than three to six months. We did it in six weeks."

Greg Frankenfield, President

Magenic Technologies

Solution Overview

Industry

Training

Scenario

Commerce - Direct Marketing, Selling and Services

Microsoft Products

Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Proxy Server

Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition

Microsoft SNA Server

Microsoft SQL Server 6.5

Microsoft Systems Management Server

Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

Hardware

PC-based servers with 200 MHz Pentium processor

4 GB of storage

120 MB of RAM

Partners

Magenic Technologies International

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